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We are holding the Construction Competition on March 9th!

The aim of this annual contest is to encourage members to build either radio equipment or ancillary items which enhance their radio operations and to exhibit these to encourage others to follow their example.

Entries can include any radio-related equipment or software, for example, Morse oscillator, test unit, QRP rig, computer/radio interface, PSU, Tx/Rx, linear, antenna, ATU…..

Entries can have been built at any time, but to be accepted as an entry, they must not have been entered in any previous SDARC construction contest.

If YOU have built something that helps you operate, why not enter it?  Remember it is not necessarily the most complex equipment that wins!

Provide sufficient details with your entry to help judges understand the purpose and operation of the entry…. ”Sell” the concept and its usefulness through your description, diagrams, circuits etc!

The contest will have five principal categories:-

Homebrew – This will be for equipment built completely by the club member. (If the equipment is a magazine project with a PCB available, then, the PCB may be used.)

Kit – This will be for equipment built from a kit. The kit should require some soldering to the component level.

Hybrid – This will be for homebrew equipment which also contains one or more kits.

Antenna – This will be for special homebrew antenna systems. For this type of contest entry, the member will just need to provide photographs of the antenna together with a specification, a drawing, and details of the construction. A list of countries worked with the antenna should also be provided.

Software – This category will be for radio-related software. This can be either, a new piece of “stand-alone” software, or a piece written to add extra features to some existing software.

In addition, three Constructor categories may be brought to bear:-

Novice – This will be for those members who have not previously built or exhibited any equipment.

General – This will be for those members who have built and entered previously.

Professional – This may be awarded to experienced constructors whose work is of an exceptional standard.

The number of Awards will reflect the scope of entries and may include awards made to deal with tie-break situations.

The judges’ decisions on all the awards are final.

Please complete an entry form beforehand so you can bring it on the night. You can download the entry form here.

Christmas is just around the corner!!!!

Following successful visits to the Harvester in Blunsdon in recent years, we are again booked in there for our Christmas Dinner and Awards evening.

This year’s date for your diary is Thursday 8th December. We are nominally booked for 19.30 for 19.45.

You have a choice of a 2 course menu for £16.99 or a 3 course one for £19.99.

Please see the menu of dishes which you will need to decide on at booking.

A minimum deposit of £5 per person on the initial booking or you can choose the pay the full amount.

Limited places! FIRST COME FIRST SERVED!

We took part in the VHF NFD for the first time in 3 years due to the dreaded C. We decided to enter 6/4/2/70/23 across multiple categories. We made a plan and that plan rapidly started to fall apart as time got closer. However, in the end, everything we planned came to fruition, and despite poor conditions, and lower than usual activity, we all had a fun weekend.

Details of QSO/Band data will follow once we have extracted the logs from the computers.

A big thanks to the members who turned up to help set up, operate and tear down. Next year we need to separate the stations to reduce interstation interference.

The question remains, is this contest being killed off by the Tuesday evening contests where you can work more stations with less effort in a couple of hours?

Here are some photos of the event taken by Marc and James.

Hello Members,

Just a friendly reminder that the AGM is happening in May and to vote, you must be a member. Membership runs from April 1st each year, which means that subs are now due for the 22/23 period. For bank details, please see the sidebar of the website. If you wish to pay with cash, please see Andy, G0UWS on a Thursday evening. PayPal payments are also possible but BACS is preferred.

It has taken some time to finally get this underway but you will be pleased to know that if you have been logging contacts since January 1st, they count too!

This is an almost year-long award scheme open to SDARC (and invited clubs) Members only. It aims to encourage on-air operating, to have some competitive fun playing radio, to raise the profile of SDARC on the air, and reward members for making consistent use of their radio gear. Go on, THIS year, why don’t YOU have a go!!

This year it is even open to members who have yet to gain their licence.

Just visit the dedicated page, upload your log (ADIF), and check the scoreboard. It is now easier to submit than ever before (assuming you log electronically). You can even reupload your log if you make corrections.

All the rules are on the page and if you have any questions or concerns or problems, please submit them via the groups.io email reflector and we can clarify anything. We will update the page with any useful information

A hint to a bigger score is to take part in the UKFM and UKAC contests on a Tuesday night.

Further information is available on the Worked All Members (2022) page and can be accessed at any time from the site header.

We had a number of entries this year across the majority of categories we allow. It was encouraging to see how people had spent their time since we last ran the competition. Many people were interested in what had been entered and there were lots of intense discussions throughout the evening among those who built and those who didn’t.

Returning for another year, the judges were Tony G4LDL and James M1DST who had to score these projects across a number of categories to find the winners.

We aim to present certificates during the Christmas dinner to the winners.

Thank you to all who entered. Please consider entering next year regardless of complexity as there are plenty of categories and it stimulates discussion and education.

G3XYD – Tony – 4 Band Transceiver – Hybrid (Winner)

M1CJE – Andrew – Portable Antenna System – Antenna

2E0CYS – Peter – VHF/UHF Flatpack Radio Station – Homebrew

G4OED – Graham – 6 Element 23CM Yagi – Antenna (Winner)

M1CJE- Andrew – Icom A/B Switch – Homebrew (Winner)

M1CJE- Andrew – 40m QCX – Kit (Winner)

We are holding the Construction Competition on November 25th!

The aim of this annual contest is to encourage members to build either radio equipment or ancillary items which enhance their radio operations and to exhibit these to encourage others to follow their example.

Entries can include any radio-related equipment or software, for example, Morse oscillator, test unit, QRP rig, computer/radio interface, PSU, Tx/Rx, linear, antenna, ATU…..

Entries can have been built at any time, but to be accepted as an entry, they must not have been entered in any previous SDARC construction contest.

If YOU have built something that helps you operate, why not enter it?  Remember it is not necessarily the most complex equipment that wins!

Provide sufficient details with your entry to help judges understand the purpose and operation of the entry….”Sell” the concept and its usefulness through your description, diagrams, circuits etc!

The contest will have five principal Product categories:-

Homebrew – This will be for equipment built completely by the club member. (If the equipment is a magazine project with a PCB available, then, the PCB may be used.)

Kit – This will be for equipment built from a kit. The kit should require some soldering to component level.

Hybrid – This will be for homebrew equipment which also contains one or more kits.

Antenna – This will be for special homebrew antenna systems. For this type of contest entry, the member will just need to provide photographs of the antenna together with a specification, a drawing and details of the construction. A list of countries worked with the antenna should also be provided.

Software – This category will be for radio-related software. This can be either, a new piece of “stand-alone” software, or a piece written to add extra features to some existing software.

In addition, three Constructor categories may be brought to bear:-

Novice – This will be for those members who have not previously built or exhibited any equipment.

General – This will be for those members who have built and entered previously.

Professional – This may be awarded to experienced constructors whose work is of an exceptional standard.

The number of Awards will reflect the scope of entries and may include awards made to deal with tie-break situations.

The judges’ decisions on all the awards are final.

Please complete an entry form beforehand so you can bring it on the night. You can download the entry form here.

The world’s largest radio Scout event promoting friendship and global citizenship (JOTA) is this weekend.  Get on the air and listen out for Scout radio stations.  You could ignite a lifelong interest in radio if you work a young Scout live on air.

I am running a JOTA station at 2nd Marlborough Scout hut on Saturday.  I am planning to be QRV on 40M in the afternoon using the callsign GB2MAR and we will probably also have 2M running.

It is also Operation Blue Ham this weekend on 60M. If you have this band have a listen around and work a few ATC stations as well.

More info about JOTA at https://radio-scouting.info/jota/

and Blue Ham at https://alphacharlie.org.uk/exercise-blue-ham/

73’s Andrew M1CJE

Yes, you may have become so embroiled with the drama at the forecourts or the pandemic that you failed to notice that Christmas is just around the corner!!!!

Following successful visits to the Harvester in Blunsdon in recent years, we are again booked in there for our Christmas Dinner and Awards evening.

This year’s date for your diary is Thursday 9th December. We are nominally booked for 19.30 for 19.45.

You have a choice of a 2 course menu for £15.99 or a 3 course one for £18.99.

Files

Please see the above file for menu choices which you will need to decide on at booking.

Minimum deposit of £5 on initial booking or you can choose the pay the full amount.

Limited places! FIRST COME FIRST SERVED!